Down to the Wire on Emergency Border Funds

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The Senate passed a $4.6 billion emergency border-funding bill Wednesday, setting up a clash with House Democrats, who passed their own version of the legislation on Tuesday.

What’s next: House and Senate leaders must now decide how to proceed with limited time remaining before lawmakers are due to depart for a 10-day-long July 4th recess.

“Lawmakers had hoped to get a bill to Trump’s desk before they leave,” The Hill’s Jordain Carney reported, “but without an 11th hour agreement, prospects for resolving differences between the Senate and House bills are likely stalled until after the break.”

The Senate on Wednesday rejected the House-passed spending bill, which includes greater restrictions on the Trump administration, by a 37-55 margin before overwhelmingly approving its own version in a 84-8 vote. The White House has also threatened to veto the House measure.

Senate Republicans reportedly were urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to take up their spending bill rather than enter into potentially protracted negotiations to try to reconcile the two versions. As CNN explains, they are “essentially daring the House to take or leave the Senate bill, which has bipartisan backing and the expected support of President Donald Trump.” But Pelosi rejected that idea and reportedly urged President Trump in a phone conversation to support a negotiation.

“They pass their bill. We respect that. We passed our bill, we hope they would respect that,” she told reporters, according to The Washington Post. “And there’s some improvements that we think can be reconciled.”

The bottom line: Unless House Democrats make an abrupt turn, it’s not clear how the two sides can move forward, despite a bipartisan desire to provide funding to address the humanitarian crisis at the southern border — and a sense of urgency that was only heightened by the moving photo of a drowned migrant father and daughter, Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and 23-month-old Valeria, that circulated widely on Wednesday. “[L]awmakers of both parties insisted they could not leave Washington without acting,” the Post reported. Time is running short. Stay tuned.

As editor in chief, Yuval Rosenberg oversees all aspects of The Fiscal Times' website and email newsletter. His writing has appeared in publications including BusinessWeek, CNBC.com, CNNMoney.com, Fast Company, Fortune, Newsweek, Money and Time.